Friday, September 6, 2013

The Zastava M85 is an assault carbine designed and produced by then Yugoslavian Zastava Arms, based on the Soviet AKMSU assault carbine, chambered for 5.56 NATO. It is actually a shortened version of the original rifle, the Zastava M90, which is itself successor to the Zastava M70. The M85 is practically same as the carbine version of the M70, the Zastava M92, the only difference being in caliber, and in this case, the magazine design, as same as with original rifles, the M70 and M90.

The Zastava M85 is gas-operated, air-cooled, magazine-fed, with selective fire capability. The M85 can be told apart from the original by its handrail design, which has three cooling vents instead of usual two, what gives it less overheating. Another advantage is the capability of the third firing mode, the three round burst, in contrast to the original, which has two, the semi and full auto. The only disadvantage is that the reliability is slightly reduced because of the Western round, whose mechanism is somewhat unsuitable for the AK design.

The Zastava M92 - carbine version of the M70 assault rifle - is a nearly identical variant chambered for the 7.62x39mm round.